Bordeaux, France - September, 2025

 It was not a smooth start leaving Philly for Bordeaux. Because of "crew" issue in Philly, our flight delayed for a few hours first and finally deplayed 24 hours...We stayed overnight in Philly trying to catch the same flight the next day to Madrid. The Philly hotel that American Airlines comped us was a seedy little hotel by the name Waterrfront Inn, a few miles from the airport. In the morning when things cleared up, the waterfront in front of our balcony did not look too bad!. We walked to the local restaurant for breakfast. It was a nice morning and we had a pleasant walk. Then, we caught the shuttle back to the airport around noon.

Not Bordeau...! But the view in front of our Waterfront Inn hotel room is not too bad! There is a little marina on the Delaware River not far from the hotel's balcony.

 

It was a long day in Madrid waiting for our short flight to Bordeaux. We finally arrived in Bordeaux, 24 hours later than planned. It was late in the afternoon on day two when we arrived at the hotel.  We were tired and exhaused. However, we walked to the riverfront as it was not too far from the hotel. It's good to have a feel of where we were and planed to get dinner. 

Porte de la Monnaie - Bordeaux Arch. There is a Vietnamese restaurant "Dat Viet" at the left of the arch where we had our first dinner in Bordeaux.

Gare St. Jean, Bordeaux central train station. From here, we took Bordeaux city tram which covers the city, the riverfront and tourist attractions. 

Place de la Bourse.

Place de la Bourse.


Pedestrian street in Place de la Bourse with shops and resturants.


Clock Tower - Place de la Comedie (Comedy Theater).

                        Walking through a quiet alley to visit the Notre Dame of Bordeaux.

Notre Dame of Bordeaux.

Inside the church.

Monument aux Girondins.

Bordeaux Maritime Museum .

On the bridge over the Garonne River with Cite du Vin Museum in the background. 

In front of Cite du Vin.

Port de Bordeaux with Pont Jaques Chaban-Delmas in the background.

Pey-Berland bell tower of the St. Andre Cathedral.

St. Andre Cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.

Back side of St. Andre Cathedral @ Hotel de Ville plaza.

Hotel de Ville of  Bordeaux.

We took the tram to cross the Garonne to visit the Bastide district on the right bank.

The right bank of the Garonne - Pont de Pierre in the background.

The Blue Lion sculpture in Place de Stalingrad on the right bank.

Pont de Pierre connects the left bank (city's historic center) and the right bank (La Bastide district) of the Garonne River.  

Back to the left bank to spend the rest of the evening in Bordeaux.

Porte de Bourgogne.

St. Catherine Promenade.

Place Camille Jullian in the historic center.

Back to Dat Viet restaurant for a glass of wine and appetizers.

Porte Cailhau.

Place du Palais at Porte Caihau.

We wrapped up the last evening in Bordeaux at Place de la Bourse which was our first tram stop earlier that day.

Place de la Bourse at night - illuminated against the twilight sky.

Our visit to Bordeaux was enjoyable despite we lost one full day there. We hope to come back to Bordeaux to visit Saint-Emilion's medieval village and world-famous wineries. Good bye Bordeaux for now!.

On the train to Paris.